


How to Break a Spell

by Laurea



Category: Enchanted Forest Chronicles - Patricia Wrede
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-14
Updated: 2019-12-14
Packaged: 2021-02-26 00:41:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,430
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21794707
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Laurea/pseuds/Laurea
Summary: Alianora didn't realize that lifting the spell on the stone prince would be so difficult.
Relationships: Alianora/Stone Prince
Comments: 13
Kudos: 65
Collections: Yuletide 2019





	How to Break a Spell

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Akallabeth](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Akallabeth/gifts).



Alianora blinked down at the dense lines of text in the book laid out in front of her on Morwen’s table. Much as she wanted to find a cure for the stone prince’s condition, the difficult words kept blurring before her eyes. She’d all but lost her place – when a sharp voice cut through her inattention.

“You,” Morwen said, sending a severe look over the top of the huge book open in front of her, “are extremely lucky that you didn’t end up worse than just stone. Interfering with a spell in progress is very dangerous, and rarely ends well.”

Next to Alianora, the stone prince sighed and looked down at his hands, avoiding the gazes of both women at the table with him. “Yes, I’m starting to understand just how bad a mistake I made. I’m afraid I didn’t quite understand what I was asking of you when I requested your assistance.”

Alianora looked from one to the other, worry furrowing her brow. She’d known they hadn’t been making as much progress with turning the prince back to human as they all would have liked, but she hadn’t realized it was quite so bad as that. “Does that mean you won’t be able to do it?”

That thought was a dreadful one. The prince hadn’t complained about his condition, of course, but she could see how much it bothered him.

“I didn’t say we _couldn’t_ turn him back,” Morwen said, and a wave of overwhelming relief washed through Alianora. “l said that altering the spell was a dangerous risk. The change didn’t make it unbreakable, but it does mean that we’ll need quite a powerful force to get rid of the spell as it is now.”

Alianora frowned. She was pretty sure she understood, since Morwen made much more sense than the confusing books… but she rather wished that someone would tell her she’d missed it after all. “Won’t a powerful force like that be hard to find?”

“Almost certainly,” the prince said, tapping a paragraph in one of the nearby books. “If I’ve understood this section correctly, then because the spell was originally meant to be lifted by the Water of Healing, the cure will need to be more powerful than that in order to overwrite it.”

“Yes, that’s more or less accurate,” Morwen agreed. “And unfortunately for us, there are very few easily accessible options that can overpower that particular water.”

The large gray tomcat curled up beside her lifted his head and yowled sharply, making Alianora jump. “Is he all right?”

“Yes – he’s just making unhelpful suggestions.” Morwen frowned down at the cat. “I don’t think that solution would work just yet – but perhaps down the road.”

Since this appeared to be directed at the cat rather than either of them, Alianora decided it would be rude to question it, especially after Morwen was being so nice. “Then what should we do? Could we try going back to the cave to find some of the water, with the right pitcher this time?”

Morwen shook her head. “If that were going to work, it would have done so from the start. No, we’ll need something new.” She tapped a finger thoughtfully against the cover of her book. “I have a few ideas – but before we try them out, I think we’ll all need a rest. You two can stay in my guest rooms until we find a workable solution.”

Alianora glanced over at the prince for his opinion, only to find that he’d done the same toward her. She gave him a shy smile. “Th-thank you. I think we’d appreciate that.”

“I only hope we don’t have to take advantage of your hospitality for long,” the prince added. He tried to return Alianora’s smile, but the sadness in his eyes sent an unfamiliar ache through her heart.

* * *

The situation did indeed look a little better in the morning, as Morwen had suggested it would. Alianora threw herself into the spells with renewed vigor, undaunted by the fact that her lack of magical training limited the ways she could contribute. With a witch as smart as Morwen on their side, she knew they’d find a solution – they had to.

But after the third attempt to break the spell failed, her faith began to crack at the edges. She tried to cling to the belief that the spell would lift and everything would work out, but with every passing minute, the certainty slipped from her grasp. So little in her life had ever worked out as planned… why had she thought that she could end up happily ever after with the kindest prince she’d ever met?

She stole a glance up at the stone prince’s face, and once again the look in his eyes sent something strange and new jolting through her heart. She’d found the stone features difficult to read at first, odd shadows and unfamiliar creases masking his expressions – but as she’d watched him, she’d discovered that he wasn’t so very incomprehensible after all. She could see flashes of interest when he read something he hadn’t known before, wistful hints of regret when talking about his home kingdom, and the quiet sadness when he caught sight of his own gray body.

And now, as he stared down at the remains of the last spell with the same disappointment she felt, Alianora found herself unable to think about anything but how much she wanted to place her hand on top of his. Perhaps the touch would melt the sorrow from his face and ease his worries, just for a moment.

But… she couldn’t find the nerve, not quite. Facing down the wizards and dragons had been less frightening than the thought of moving her hand six inches away to touch his.

She turned away before he could catch her staring, and bent to start gathering up the scattered herbs from their latest try. “Do we need to go back to researching again? To figure out why it isn’t working?”

“No – that isn’t the problem.” Morwen placed the rest of her tools in a basket and tucked them neatly inside a cabinet as three of her cats got up from their places around the prince. Two scampered off into the depths of the house, but the gray tomcat jumped up onto a nearby chair and yawned at them as if to express how unimpressed he was with their attempts.

“It’s the power, isn’t it?” the prince said, taking a cautious step out of the remains of the circle. “Nothing we’ve tried so far has been enough to break the altered spell.”

“That’s right.” Morwen frowned. “And if unicorn water and rosemary didn’t do the trick, I don’t think anything else I have on hand will work, either.”

“What – not anything?” Alianora’s mouth dropped open in horror.

“Mrrow!”

The gray cat opened one eye from his apparent nap, not even lifting his head. “Mree-eee- _ow_!”

Whatever he’d said earned him a disapproving glare from Morwen. “ _Yes_ , Trouble, I’m aware of your thoughts on the matter. It might work in time, but we can hardly force an effective attempt.”

“What did he suggest?” Alianora asked, kneeling next to the cat. “I’d be happy to try anything that might help!”

Morwen shook her head. “No, it’s better if you don’t worry about it. We’re better off focusing on another method for now. If we had some other tools on hand, there are more spells we could try.”

“Wouldn’t tools like that be hard to come by?” the prince asked dubiously.

“Yes – which is why it’s fortunate for you that I know several other witches who are open to temporary exchanges,” Morwen said. “If I write to them this afternoon, it shouldn’t take more than a couple weeks to hear back from them.”

“Weeks?” Alianora couldn’t quite hide her dismay. She’d been hoping that the prince wouldn’t have to endure more than another day or two in his stone state. But it sounded so very ungrateful to say so that she felt her face flush rosy pink. “I – I’m sorry. I know you’re being very kind to us. A couple weeks won’t be so very much, really.”

She tried to send the prince a watery smile, but this time he didn’t even meet her eyes.

* * *

That afternoon, while Morwen went to write her letters, the prince slipped away from the house. Alianora only discovered this when she’d heard the quiet click of the kitchen door while restacking the reference books they’d been using, and she’d looked up to see that he’d gone outside.

Should she follow him? She thought that it might be the right thing to do… but her courage faltered at the thought of going after him. Could she even help him at all? Perhaps she should simply leave him alone, if that was what he wanted.

And yet… she could see his face after the last spell failed, as if he’d lost hope. Even if she couldn’t do anything to help, she didn’t want him to be all alone when he felt like that.

But once she stepped out of the house, she realized she hadn’t any idea where he’d gone. The little she knew of the Enchanted Forest told her that it was far too dangerous a place to wander around lightly, even if she meant to stay nearby.

“Mrrow?”

She looked down, and the gray cat from the ritual stared up at her with sharp yellow eyes.

Well, he was a witch’s cat, after all. Alianora gave him her politest smile. “Do you think you could show me where the stone prince went, please?”

The cat’s huff of breath would spell annoyance in any language – but he trotted off briskly toward the garden. Alianora hurried around the corner after him –

And there was the prince, sitting on the ground beneath an apple tree. The cat leapt up onto the lowest-hanging branch, level with the prince’s head, and eyed Alianora in an open challenge until she stepped closer.

The prince looked up, startled at the sound of her footsteps. “Ah – my apologies, I didn’t realize you’d followed me.” A courtly mask of a smile began to shutter across his face.

“Oh, _don’t_!” she burst out, before she could think the better of it. “Don’t pretend that nothing’s wrong! You needn’t tell me, not if you don’t want to – but please don’t act as though I can’t see it.”

He blinked once, and she could just hear the delicate click of his fine stone eyelashes. “I didn’t want to upset you. I just needed to think.” He took a deep breath, as if bracing himself for battle. “Princess… when I asked you to accompany me away from the dragons, I didn’t realize that it would take so very long for me to be a normal man again.”

“Well, no, I’m sure you didn’t,” she agreed, bemused. “I wasn’t expecting it, either.”

“Yes.” He sighed. “And knowing that it might take so very long… knowing that we don’t _know_ how long it will take… I wanted to let you know that you’re not obligated to remain.”

Her heart froze in her chest, as though she too had found herself turned to stone. “You – what?”

“You’re free to go, if you wish.” He stared earnestly into her eyes, and she could see he meant every word. “I was glad to rescue you – nothing could have made me happier than to be of service to such a kind, generous young woman. But if you have a family, a kingdom, a home to return to, then I certainly won’t demand you stay with a cursed fool. A woman as bright and good as you are deserves better.”

He lifted her hand to bow over it. Alianora stared at the prince in shock. “You mean – you don’t want me to stay with you? You want me to go away?”

She should have expected it. After every other story she’d ruined, how could she have believed that a happy ending could be waiting for her? How could she have thought he’d really want _her_ to stay by his side?

“I want you to be happy, that’s all,” the prince whispered roughly. His fingers loosened, preparing to drop her hand.

“But I won’t be!” She caught his hand before he could move away, clasping it in both of hers. “If I leave you now, I’d be miserable!”

“It could be months, or even years before I’m human again.” He shook his head, though he didn’t pull his hand away from hers. “There’s even a chance it might never happen. I – I can’t ask you to endure that.”

“I don’t _care_ about that! I didn’t agree to leave with you just because I thought the spell could break!” She stared up into his eyes, the answer singing straight from her heart. “I agreed because I love you!”

His eyes widened in shock at the words that neither of them had ever said before. Heat flooded through her face, and she would have stepped back –

When a furry lump landed right between her shoulder blades, pushing her forward. The prince’s arms shot out to catch her, but they couldn’t quite keep their balance. She crashed face-first against him, and – in the chaos of it – their lips connected.

Her face burned at the feel of cool stone lips against her own – but she didn’t pull away from him. Perhaps if she could show her prince how she felt, he would understand. She pressed forward, tilting her head to kiss him properly.

And as she did, stone softened into something warmer, and human arms wrapped around her waist to press her to a warm, cloth-covered chest.

She drew back sharply, and found herself staring into a human face, all brown skin and dark curls above wide eyes. “You’re – you’re human again?”

He stared at her like she was amazing – like _she_ was the most wonderful thing he’d ever seen. “You’re warm. I – I can feel you. You’re _warm_!”

This was the nicest compliment she’d ever gotten. Alianora threw her arms around him in turn and pressed against him, settling her head on his shoulder. “Then – then it’s real. We’re going to live happily ever after!”

“We certainly are, if I have anything to say about it.” The prince leaned down to kiss her again.

As he did, Alianora heard a cat meowing very smugly from somewhere behind her, as Morwen’s laughter came from the side of the house. “Yes, Trouble, you’re right – true love’s kiss did the trick in the end.”


End file.
